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US court approves cellphone search without warrant

, Mar 1st 2012 Discuss [12]

A US federal appeals court has ruled in favor of allowing police to search cell phones without the need to obtain a warrant. Following the conviction of a Abel Flores-Lopez in a drug-related charge, Lopez filed an appeal saying that police had illegally searched his cell phones without a warrant. The 7th Circuit court's Judge Richard Posner rejected the argument, ruling that minimally invasive searches of cell phones without a warrant are permissible. Read The Full Story

Obama Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights announced and detailed

, Feb 23rd 2012 Discuss [0]

One month and three days after Consumer Watchdog called President Obama to endorse "Do Not Track" and online privacy legislation during his State of the Union address, the President has proposed a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. The White House has called upon Congress to pass legislation that will allow the FTC Federal Trade Commission as well as state attorney generals to support and enforce the framework of this bill. This bill will act as a guard for consumers rights, allowing consumers to say when, if, and how their personal information is both collected and used online. Read The Full Story

Anonymous reveals Cybersecurity Act of 2012

, Feb 22nd 2012 Discuss [91]

This week it appears that the NSA has brought forth warnings of the hacker group Anonymous' ability to take down the power grid at a most opportune time, according to none other than Anonymous. While earlier this week it was warned by the NSA that Anonymous might be targeting the US power grid, the hacker group has noted that they'd do no such thing, as "there are ppl on life support/other vital services that rely on it." In addition, the group has brought attention today to a new bill that's looking to get passed in the first part of the year: the Cybersecurity Act of 2012. Read The Full Story

Piracy Agreement ACTA faces EU’s highest court

, Feb 22nd 2012 Discuss [0]

This week the act known as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been pushed before the European Union's highest court where it will face scrutiny by law. This move has been described by EU trade head Karel De Gucht as a question by the court that will clarify whether the treaty was able to comply with "the EU's fundamental rights and freedoms." What we know so far of the ACTA, for those of you following along, is that its a multi-nation agreement currently being signed (or protested against) after its initial negotiation excluded civil society groups, developing countries, and the general public on the whole. Read The Full Story

Apple wins Slide to Unlock patent dispute with Motorola

, Feb 16th 2012 Discuss [42]

All the way over in Germany there's a patent case going on which involves - or until today involved - Motorola and Apple enforcing its slide-to-unlock image patent, EP1964022 This ruling will be the first time Apple has won over an offensive claim against Motorola in Germany, Munich I Regional Court judging a permanent injunction today that Apple now has the option of enforcing at its own risk against a bond. Apple did not win against Motorola in one of three rulings, it being the unlock sequence on the Motorola XOOM (Android 3.0 Honeycomb's circle unlock) but did win against two smartphone methods for unlocking. Read The Full Story

Megaupload co-founder bailed, Dotcom trial date soon

, Feb 15th 2012 Discuss [0]

This week the co-founder of Megaupload, Mathias Ortmann has been freed on bail after his arrest along with the rest of the Megaupload inner circle nearly a month ago. Ortmann's trial date was supposed to have taken place on the 26th of January but his own estimates on his finances did not match up with cash earned from basic Megaupload funds between 2005 and 2011 - while he noted he's made $17.5 million from the service over the past 6 years, he'd had $3.5 million more than that completely unaccounted for. This morning it appears that they've been able to explain the discrepancy because Ortmann has been released on bail. Read The Full Story

Twitter can lead Indonesians to a decade in prison

, Feb 9th 2012 Discuss [2]

Indonesia's Communications and Information Minister has made it officially known that anyone breaking the country's restrictive, non-free-speech laws will be strictly adhered to even for users who are on Twitter. The micro-blogging site does not prohibit users from posting defamatory or threats, but if an Indonesian native is found to be the one posting such content, they will be persecuted to the fullest extent of the law, however backward it may be. Read The Full Story

Steve Jobs FBI file pulled with Freedom of Information Act

, Feb 9th 2012 Discuss [4]

There's quite a bit of hubub about the Steve Jobs FBI file that's been put up for download by any man, woman, or child who would dare read it today, but not a whole lot of people speaking about how it came to us all now, of all times. What's going on here is that the FBI was vetting Jobs for a tech job with the President - a Bush at the time. The result of this interview process was a set of papers with interviews of colleagues of Jobs speaking highly and in some cases not so highly of his character - this packet of papers is now available for download thanks to the Freedom of Information Act and a fellow by the name of Michael Morisy. Read The Full Story

Anonymous hits Police websites in Boston and SLC

, Feb 3rd 2012 Discuss [0]

Attacks this week by hacker collective Anonymous appear to have taken the Boston and Salt Lake City police by surprise once more as they retaliate for police brutality at Occupy Wall Street weeks ago. Though it's not been immediately apparent why this second attack has come when it has, Anonymous does appear to have left a message on Boston Police news website BPDNews.com currently being redirected to their Facebook blast page instead. On that page they currently have a statement which speaks on how irritated they are that the site would be brought down when all it aims to do is bring safety information to fair citizens. Read The Full Story

Netflix’s Facebook sharing calls up antiquated law

, Feb 1st 2012 Discuss [6]

Did you that it's actually illegal for Netflix to share your movie "rental" history with the public? There's a law called the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), passed in 1988, to that effect. And now Netflix is facing a Congressional subcommittee because of its Facebook app that allows users to willingly share their streaming information online. And unfortunately, some Senators are refusing to accept changes that should be made to the 24-year-old measure.   Read The Full Story

Flying Drones employed by Miami Police for standoff situations

, Jan 25th 2012 Discuss [2]

Though they've had approval to utilize such technology since July of 2011, the police force in Miami Florida have never actually utilized their drone technology, but it's certainly there and ready for action. There aren't any weapons attached to these T-Hawk Micro-Air Vehicles, and the drones aren't really capable of destroying or saving any target - instead they're used to capture events from the sky with their basic video and photo cameras installed aboard. These drones are made specifically for standoff situations in which an overhead view would be beneficial, and their relative small size and ease in use makes them perfect for use by the police forces in the area. Read The Full Story

Judge rules Fifth Amendment to no longer cover hard drives

, Jan 24th 2012 Discuss [54]

In a court case currently going on here in the United States including a Colorado woman who's hard drive may well include incriminating evidence against her, it's been ruled that her encrypted password on said hard drive must be bypassed by her, and is not protected under the Fifth Amendment. Before this case, a distinction had been drawn in cases which included such situations, the difference being clear between forcing a person to reveal their password and forcing a defendant to decrypt encrypted data without revealing their password. Revealing the password has up until now been ruled as forcing the defendant to reveal the contents of their mind, this bringing up some Fifth Amendment issues - that's no longer the case according to Judge Robert Blackburn. Read The Full Story
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